A conjurer living in Maikop, not Cherkess but of Abkhaz descent (the Abkhaz are a neighboring people of the Caucasus? region, not nearly as advanced or powerful as the Cherkess). Malik was one of the victims of a rash of burglaries during the "monster invasion"; the players solved those crimes (tracing them to an insane, magically modified vampire, one of the creatures they had unwittingly freed from the spell weaver dungeon) and returned Malik's possessions to him. Malik is likely evil; certainly he is a binder of demons, and is said to engage in various unsavory affairs. He seems to know quite a bit of planar lore, including the creation of forked rods (for the plane shift spell) keyed to many of the Inner and Outer Planes.